Insect Pests of House and Garden. 66i 



fumigation. Where practicable, hydroc3^anic-acid gas could be used 

 effectively in fumigating, but it should be done by those familiar with 

 its deadly qualities. Where the infestation is not so severe, a liberal 

 use of insect powder or benzine has given good results. A basement 

 of one of the Cornell University buildings once became infested with 

 fleas. A professor conceived the novel plan of capturing many of them 

 by tying sheets of sticky fly-paper, with the sticky side out, around 

 the legs of the janitor of the building, who then for several hours walked 

 up and down the floor of the infested room, with the result that nearly 

 all of the fleas jumped on his ankles, as they often do, and were caught 

 by the fly-paper. Fleas will not find congenial homes where rugs are 

 used instead of carpets. They thrive in dirt and do not like to be dis- 

 turbed. 



Sometimes pet cats and dogs can be rid of fleas by the free use of 

 insect powder well rubbed in among the hairs. A creolin wash has 

 been strongly recommended as a most satisfactory application on in- 

 fested animals — for dogs, four teaspoonfuls of creolin to a quart of 

 water, and for cats two teaspoonfuls. The mixture may be applied 

 with the hands or brush, or the animals submerged in it for about five 

 minutes. 



VI. Mosquitoes. 



The disturbing hum of the mosquito has acquired a new and more 

 dangerous significance since it has been demonstrated during the past 

 few years that some of them may carry in their frail bodies the deadly 

 germs of such diseases as malaria and yellow fever. It is now believed 

 that these diseases can be transmitted from one person to another 

 only through the agency of certain kinds of mosquitoes. When a fever 

 patient is bitten by one of these mosquitoes, the germs of the disease 

 go with the blood into the mosquito's body, where they undergo further 

 development and finally get into the salivary glands, from which they 

 may be injected into the blood of another well person when being bitten 

 by this mosquito. While there are more than forty different kinds of 

 mosquitoes in New York, less than half a dozen of them are often found 

 in houses. The commonest of all forms belong to the genus Culex 

 (Fig. 26), which includes the mosquitoes most often found breeding in 

 rain-water barrels. The malaria-bearing mosquitoes belong to the 

 genus Anopheles (Fig. 27). These may be readily distinguished, for 

 they have wings which are more or less spotted and the projections on 

 either side of their beak, known as palpi, are nearly as long as the beak, 



